Dialogue for a More Inclusive Democracy

About democracy, inclusion, and communication in a changing populus

A consideration of terms

            A populus is an aggregation of people. Here we will speak mostly, for example, of the people of a nation or state. That is the people of a geographic area which they consider "theirs."  This is not a necessary condition and you may live to note that the geographic condition is less important. 

            Communication includes talk. Talk, especially live face to face talk, is a powerful mode of communication. Print and other media are also a powerful ways of  communicating of a different sort, different because it can effect a great number of people at a time. However, media is less power than face to face talk because it lacks many of the qualities of face to face talk.  Much talk may be carried on between two persons. That talk can be very powerful for them, but may have little effect beyond them. Conversation and  discussion are powerful means of communication for a few persons if is broadcasted by media its power is multiplied. Still live, face to face talk can be the most effective. The talk called dialogue can be carried on effectively with as many as 30 or 40 persons at a time. I believe that it is worth our while to learn more about dialogue.

            Inclusive talk is a useful sort of communication which includes you and me and others who may be different from you or from me or from both of us. When the group talk is a democratic and inclusive dialogue group that group can be satisfying and powerful.

            A dialogue group like this forms a place and time for members to have a more equal opportunity to speak and be heard. Much meaningful understanding as well as respect and friendship can develop in such a group. Dialog groups are usually made up of face to face groups from about three to about thirty individual because groups such size often prove effective and successful.

               Democracy is a word used to describe a ruling or governing group. It indicates that those who govern and rule are the people. Democracy can exist with a great number of limitations. An inclusive democracy is one that attempts to limit the limitations. One limitation has been the limitation to a specified area. For example, a city, state, or country, or a city state like ancient Athens or modern Singapore. "Demo" can refer to the people of Singapore, China, or your group. Among us and others the people of a group are citizens.

Citizen is another limiting word. Just because one lived in a specific area did not make him a citizen there. Slaves could not belong to the ruling group, Infants could not be citizens. Sometimes felons were barred from citizenship. So  among us a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people were limited to citizenship.

            These are terms understood in many dialogue groups. There may be other terms which it would be helpful to define, but this handful makes a good start for now.

            This little essay may turn out to be longer than I anticipated. I may consider publishing it in parts. I tend to feel more comfortable with works of only four or five pages. I will almost certainly publish this work at my blog Dialogue With RCS; here there already more than 50 essays on "dialogue" published you may benefit by checking them out.

            Dialogue groups can be used for a variety of purposes, including, as a parlor game. Here I am considering them as a useful and probably vital tool of democratic governance. Democratic governance seems to be my principle theme here.

            So, Inclusivity is implied by democracy so inclusivity is a guiding principle for democratic dialogue groups and all democratic activities. I like the idea that inclusivity implies some interesting variety. That variety may also be an empowering factor of such groups. Expect your awareness of the value of diversity in our democratic processes ton grow.

            An important purpose of the dialogue group I speak of is to provide a safe space and place for the people of these groups to speak. They are made safe from interruption, but are also spaces where appropriate trust can develope, where we get to know one another, where friendship can develop. They are a place where respectful communication is nurtured. However, they are also a place where everyone is not always on the same page. Sometimes a completely new page turns up and we do some interesting learning. Being in a nurturing atmosphere is good, but variety can be the healthy and interesting spice of life.

             The power of a dialogue group is in its ability to support effective democratic governance. The facilitate inclusive democracies by providing productive platforms for a greater number and a greater variety of people to support the stable governance of those democracies. More of the involved voices are heard listened to, heard, and understood and all come to better understand their situation and condition. These groups form a safe and open space where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together to engage in meaningful communication. They can come to be in a place where at they can come to make good and better decisions and perhaps make them mutually. Through the dialogue, participants can share their perspectives, experiences, and concerns, allowing  for a more comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand. This inclusive approach ensures that the discussion-making process takes into account the needs and intersects of al citizens, of all members of society.

Education, learning, awareness, in accord with the realities of our community

            We have learning to do. Practice helps. Education and a willingness to be a more aware heps. Recognizing democratic processes is important. Active engagement in democratic processes and and practice in carrying them out is important. Showing up is a great start and a great follow through. We learn best where and when the most voices are heard. Heard one at a time so that we hear them well. Inclusivity and diverse perspectives are valuable reality check.

            In our dialogue groups the comfort of a group in which a most members are of very similar views, beliefs, and background is in an unstable dream world in groups interested in governance. We want the reality and actuality of the society to have representation. That is an important approach is to ensure that the composition of the group reflects the diversity reality of the citizen population. We want to have a group which is as representative of, for example, our town as we can. So, probably some seeking out and invitations may be called for. y including a range of perspectives, our group can better understand and address the realities of our community of interest.

            We want a safe just and realistic ambient for our dialogue group. This involves establishing ground rules which promote respectful and open communication, Where participants can feel comfortable sharing their experiences and opinions. It can be and should be arranged  that each and every member have equal opportunities to be heard. It is important to maintain an environment where participants feel empowered to express themselves with fear of negative judgement or reprisal. At best the oral offering(Speach)  of each member ought to be welcomed as a pressesh gift.

            Dialogue groups can provide a platform for marginalized voices, underrepresented citizens, and persons new to the political conversation of the society. They can better learn the nature of the democratic process in their larger community and learn how to be heard their. The participatory democracy we speak of here aims to involve citizens in the decision-making process. Our dialogue groups can help address power imbalances and promote inclusivity in the process of governance.

The nature of a politically oriented dialogue group

            Politics is not always a bad word.

                So, we can see that our dialogue can be an important way of taking care of ourselves together. Taking care of ourselves together can be called democratic governance.

                Such dialogue is best when it is inclusive. Awareness of the importance and value of diversity in our democratic process needs to be kept high in our minds. As should keeping a safe space available in which to nurture  open and respectful conversation. We profit greatly by maintaining a platform whereat  our voices can be heard. In this space individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together in meaningful conversation. They can begin to share perspectives, experiences, and concerns, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand.

            This inclusive approach can be vital to ensuring that this transformative journey plays a crucial role in bringing us to a decision-making process which leads to action that is to our lasting benefit. Inclusion promotes social cohesion and well functioning communities. Inclusive dialogue can foster empathy, mutual understanding, and more effective action. Such dialogue groups contribute to system change that embraces and supports participation in the working of democracy. Our participation in democracy through dialogue groups creates an environment  wherein diverse voices  are heard, understood, and valued. Open dialogue and inclusive decision-making lead to the useful actions of a democratic society.

            As we have come to see from our experience and the essays on this blogsite that listening to learn and understand rather than plotting your fascinating response is a valuable practice. Active, fully present, attentive listening provides much of the value in the dialogue we are speaking of.  Through such listening we gain deeper insight into the views and sentiments of our fellows. We come to a more useful understanding of the implications behind their words. You come to be clearly and usefully heard by others in the group as come to more clearly hear and understand them. Empathy among group members improves.

            As your group experience continues, group collaboration improves, group dynamics shift for the better. Members find better ways of blending their ideas with those of other members. Your journey into meaningful self-governance is part of your growth and of the development of your community. You are sowing seeds of collective responsibility together.

            It is good to remember that democracy is less an destination and more an ongoing journey. It happens in our day to day doing of talk, decisions, and actions. It is an ongoing doing. It can be fueled by curiosity, learning, and understanding. It can be helped a lot by your understanding of and practice of the dialogue you are being introduced to at this blogsite. 

            Thank you for reading.

                                                                                    Richard

Who Is Interested in Interacting With This Site?

                I will ramble on a bit longer here but it seems it is getting close to time to shut down Dialogue With RCS for lack of interest. The site has been up for over two years and is averaging only about 400 views a month and in that time I have only been contacted once. I incorrectly expected more exchanges with readers and perhaps some "How to" questions.

            I will keep you informed about my intentions. It may be useful for me to move some of this site to the Governance With RCS site. The Dialogue is an important part of governance and taking care of ourselves together.

Another Ramble Into Dialogue Practice:

            This piece seems to be mostly about what the dialogue is and a little about why I find it interesting and a bit about other stuff. I do not intend to say anything about how to practice the dialogue today. How is a big topic in which it seems few are interested.

           The what of the dialogue is that it can be a good way to meaning and understanding, shared meaning and understanding. It can be about kinds of peace, basketball, relationships, or whatever we like. These days I am interested in dialogue about taking care of ourselves together. I call that governance.

            However, The Dialogue is about effective dialogue. It is not complicated, but it does take practice. There are skills to practice, rules to integrate, and good practices to practice.

            In the practice you can find humor, fun, smiles, some laughter. You can also find satisfaction and new skills. You can find empowering meaning and understanding. Perhaps you can find companionship and co-operation. You may find yourself maintaining culture or even creating culture. You will get to know your practice companions better.

            It can be a supporting and strengthening process, and you do most of it with just the support of your group. I see it something like an adult primary and secondary school with no kindergarten. I can be much faster, but we find that we often have to learn one thing before we learn another.

            The practice includes the development of listening skills that helps us to a more useful understanding of our practice companions, ourselves, and the human world. Our developing listening skills bring more and more meaning and understanding into our lives. We begin to find satisfaction and joy by partaking of this kind of democratic talk. The practice may even let more peace and abundance into one's life.

            The dialogue includes being listened to. I the dialogue we can be heard. Speaking of being heard, the dialogue is communion among a group of individuals. It is not a monologue. For me to advance understanding of the dialogue I need a lot of ongoing feedback. I need to know you better to write to you better. I want to write about the dialogue in more detail, more systematically, in ways more appropriate to your wants, needs, and interests. The topic is broad and and can be deep.

            I often see the dialogue as a democratic stream of meaning flowing among us and through us. Still the dialogue can be much like a parlor game that most of can enjoy and still be a meaningful practice. Even as a parlor game there can be stream of growing meaning and understanding flowing among us which might not notice or give a conscious thought to. Still that flow of meaning and understanding created by us energizes new and meaningful understanding among us.

         

            The shared meaning we create with our dialogue is a force which helps us to more peaceful and meaningful families and relationships, helps us to co-operate locally more effectively, and helps us to more healthy societies nations. and to a more useful, resistant, and meaningful culture. 

The Dialogue is Not:    

~ the analysis found in discussion nor is it an effort to persuade anyone

~ an attempt to gain points.

~ an attempt to make any particular point prevail.

            This dialogue practice is a safer, more useful way to honestly share meaning, experience, 0pinion, assumption, and understanding. And this little essay is headed for more ramble. I hope it will turn out to be useful ramble through some valuable orientation and information.

            I hope that you have begun to suspect that the dialogue is likely to hold benefits for you. I believe that it has a variety of benefits for a variety of individuals. One can be surprised to find that a single minute they have to express an opinion of theirs to an attentive groups has real value for them. They are please to know that there can be many such minutes. Others feel there is important benefit in having the words they express are listen to heard with the intention of understanding. Others feel that the knowledge that each will have and equitable opportunity to be heard and that all will have equal opportunity to be heard. All of this can happen in the first grade.

            We all may come to appreciate the benefits in learning and practicing listening skills. Nearly all can benefit practicing speaking skills. Others are gaining hearing and understanding skills, and benefiting.

            All benefit and are please that many are gaining skills at expressing themselves at an extraordinary level of honesty. 

            Others  may feel that they benefit just by learning to accept that which another says is valuable information. Accepting it as valuable not necessarily for being true or something to be believed. But seeing it rather as a representation of another's opinion, interpretation, or experience. That is as a way to a deeper understanding of another whose opinions are very different from one's own.

            Individuals benefit in a variety of individual ways. For me and others a great benefit seems to center on a flow of meaning which begins to flow through a practice group. That flow can lead to a kind of thinking together in face of great differences discovered in a group. That sort of thinking together is sometimes very powerful, perhaps more powerful than the sum of that of all individual inputs

The Practice Calls For Your Effort:

    You will need to work the practice to gain your benefits. Listening, hearing, understanding call for your attention and more. Showing up and keeping appropriate silence take effort. Co-operating with your fellow dialoguers may be a pleasure, but also calls for effort. Learning the mechanics of this dialogue takes effort which may be called work.

            You can gain certain skills and understandings. You may gain some shared meaning and culture. Showing up may be a bit of a job. But there are more advantages. You can gain word power and voice projection. It is possible to gain a more peaceful and meaningful life. Some improve their use of a language which is not their own.

            This is about all the ramble in can handle today.

        If  you have an idea for practicing dialogue online, please share it. Remember, members must recognize each other and begin to know each other. You may use the "comments" app below.

            Their are other dialogue posts to explore at this site. You are welcome to explore them.

            Thanks for going on this ramble.

                                                                                                rcs

        

             

For a Successful Dialogue Practice

Try the following:

~ Address the group as a whole. Avoid addressing your words to one or two persons.

~ Remember that it is most useful to listen, hear, and understand.

~ Avoid giving advice.

~ Remember that a speaker is probably doing her or his best to be honest.

~ Avoid interrupting another. Your group has a way of dealing with those who would damage your practice.

~ Keep expenses to a minimum. Everyone helps to take care of necessary expenses. Do your part.

~ Really listen to to what another is saying. Improved understanding is a major aim of your group.

~ Learn to listen well and gain greater listening skills.

~ Encourage everyone to speak at each opportunity. The words of each are gifts for us all.

~ Limiting each speaking time to 1 or 2 minutes. It's great to have time to speak more than once at a meeting.

~ Remember that focusing dialogue on personal experience is good practice.

~ In the beginning get 8 or 9 interested persons to commit to 4 or 5 consecutive meetings.

Practice perfects.

More to Come.

                                                                                rcs

  

Dialogue Terms

 Here are a half a dozen terms I have used to write of our dialogues.

                I have written a few words about each to remind you about their meanings.

Assumptions:

                We have differing experiences and so differing opinions and assumptions.We have differing views because of who we are.
We often come to interpret our worlds differently from one another.
We develop conscious and unconscious ideas about the ways of the world which are difficult for others to understand until they know more of our experiences.

Defending:

                Without the abundance of shared cultural meanings good dialogue brings, it is unreasonable to expect a peaceful society. Defending our own or another's opinions keeps us from laying out our assumptions were we can all look at them and try to appreciate their meanings  and so keepings from productive and satisfying dialogue we want an need. It is shared deeper meanings we seek. Also defending our assumptions consumes the energy we could better use to achieve a clear understanding  of the assumption of another.

Go-under:

                Without good dialogue we are likely to miss opportunities and lose understanding s. We are likely to miss out on good positions, to go under and lose out as individuals, corporations, families, nations, churches, parties. The shared meaning we gain in good dialogue helps us  maintain, grow, and strengthen party, church, nation, family, corporation, and self.

Coherent:

                For many, an important benefit of dialogue practice is experiencing the power of collectively shared meaning. Most ordinary talk in in society may well be called incoherent. Our dialogue practice is designed to promote areas of  coherence in the vastness of misunderstanding. The meanings we share a cohesion of understanding.

Group: 

                For a truly effective dialogue of of sufficient variety of viewpoint A group of between 15 and 40 seems optimal. It is possible to do preparatory work with a dedicated, active organizing group of say nine may be adequate. A long lasting group with regular meetings is called for.

Thinking Together:

                Is a frequent result of a dialogue group and ought perhaps be a aim of your group. We learn to stay close to the same page and to carry each other's thoughts forward. Individuals sharing common meanings in a coherent way have power for peace and creativity. Thinking together coherently calls for dialogue sustained  long enough to to share a body of coherent meanings. 

You strengthen culture, create it, enjoy it, and pass it on.



                                                                                                        By Richard for you.

Terms for the Dialogue

Here are a half a dozen terms I have used to write of our dialogues.

I have written a few words about each to remind you about their meanings.

Assumptions:
We have differing experiences and so differing opinions and assumptions.We have differing views because of who we are. We often come to interpret our worlds differently from one another. We develop conscious and unconscious ideas about the ways of the world which are difficult for others to understand until they know more of our experiences.

Defending:
Without the abundance of shared cultural meanings good dialogue brings, it is unreasonable to expect a peaceful society. Defending our own or another's opinions keeps us from laying out our assumptions were we can all look at them and try to appreciate their meanings  and so keeping us from productive and satisfying dialogue we want an need. It is shared deeper meanings we seek. Also defending our assumptions consumes the energy we could better use to achieve a clear understanding  of the assumption of another.

Go-under:
Without good dialogue we are likely to miss opportunities and lose understanding s. We are likely to miss out on good positions, to go under and lose out as individuals, corporations, families, nations, churches, parties. The shared meaning we gain in good dialogue helps us , maintain, grow, and strengthen party, church, nation, family, corporation, and self.

Coherent:
For many, an important benefit of dialogue practice is experiencing the power of collectively shared meaning. Most ordinary talk in in society may well be called incoherent. Our dialogue practice is designed to promote areas of  coherence in the vastness of misunderstanding. The meanings we share a cohesion of understanding.

Group: 
Fora truly effective dialogue of of sufficient variety of viewpoint A group of between 15 and 40 seems optimal. It is possible to do preparatory work with a dedicated, active organizing group of say nine may be adequate. A long lasting group with regular meetings is called for.

Thinking Together:
Is a frequent result of a dialogue group and ought perhaps be a aim of your group. We learn to stay close to the same page and to carry each other's thoughts forward. Individuals sharing common meanings in a coherent way have power for peace and creativity. Thinking together coherently calls for dialogue sustained  long enough to to share a body of coherent meanings. 

You strengthen culture, create it enjoy it, and pass it on.



By Richard for You








 

Dialogue Practice: what it is about and what it is not about

DialogueWithRCS, Dialogue practice is a way to:

~  peace and good will.

~  see our words as gifts to others.

~  an activity which helps us to be us.

~ better understanding and cooperation through the meaning of word.

~  an honest, supportive activity.

~  greater awareness and enhanced consciousness.

~  develop new listening and speaking skills.

~ practice more effective methods of communication. 

~  preservation, growth, and creation of culture.

~  make a healthy, effective society more likely.

~  meet and know interesting persons.

~  put honest thoughts on the table where we can look them over an begin to find their meaning.

~ be heard.

~ find pleasure in speaking up.

~ understanding among us and within us.

~  exchange views and opinions.

~ satisfying relationship.

~ practice a "second" language.

~ more effective communication outside the group.

~ share experience.

 

Dialogue practice is not is not a,:

~  not a place to make a particular point or idea prevail.

~ not a debate or discussion.

~ not a game to win or lose.

According to Dr. David Bohm, dialogue practice is:

~ participating in a flow of meaning between us, through us, and among us.

~ a activity out of which emerges new and renewed understanding.

~ an activity which helps us to be us.

                There is more to learn, understand, and practice, but with these few sentences we have made a good start.

                Thank you for reading.

                                                    RCS

For Successful Dialogue Practice

Try the following:

• Address the group as a whole. Avoid directing your words to one or two people.
• Remember that it is most useful to listen, hear, and understand.
• Avoid giving advice.
• Remember that a speaker is Probably doing her or his best to be honest.
• Avoid interrupting another. Your group has a way of dealing with those who who damage your practice.
• Keep expenses to a minimum. Everyone helps to take care of necessary expenses. Do your part.
• Everyone helps with the expenses as they can.
• Really listen to what another is saying. Improved understanding is a major aim of your group.
• Learn to listen well. You will gain greater listening skills.
• Encourage everyone to to speak at each opportunity. The words of each are gifts for us all.
• Usually limit speaking time to one or two minutes. It is great to have time to speak more than once at a single meeting.
• Remember that focusing dialogue on personal experience is good practice.
• In the very beginning get 7 or 8 interested persons to commit to 3 or 4 consecutive meetings.